Kyle Edmund to face Rafael Nadal in second round clash after defeating Dan Evans in Monte-Carlo

Kyle Edmund emerged victorious in an all-British first-round tie at the Monte-Carlo Masters on Monday (17 April), defeating Dan Evans in straight sets.

Evans, ranked one place above his fellow compatriot at 45, lost 7-5, 6-1 in around an hour and 20 minutes as Edmund set up a second round clash with Rafael Nadal.

The British duo were teammates at the Davis Cup where Great Britain crashed out to France earlier this month as Edmund did not start well, with two double-faults, slipping down to 4-1 in the first set.

However, the 22-year-old impressively fought back to win the set 7-5 before going on to win the match comfortably in the second set.

Edmund now faces a second round match with Nadal, the king of clay, who has won both Monte-Carlo and the French Open nine times.

No player in the Open era has won the same tournament 10 times and the Spaniard will be hoping to achieve the feat this year, having also won in Barcelona nine times. Edmund, however, remains unfazed by the prospect of facing the greatest tennis player on clay and sees it as an opportunity.

"I played Novak Djokovic three times, Andy Murray twice, Stan Wawrinka, Milos Raonic," he said, as quoted on The Guardian. "It's another top-10 opportunity for me. I like the clay. I've been getting better on it over the past few days. It will be just a great experience."

"It will be a tough match, whatever the court. The flipside, he's not played me. Different game styles. At the start of the match no one gets a head start just because of ranking or past wins. It's 0-0, game on. That's how I've got to approach it."

Edmund will face Nadal on Wednesday (19 April).